Don't Make Me Throw You Back
by sandalaris22
Summary: A series of drabbles based off scenes from different episodes. Current rating/genre/characters based on last drabble.
1. I'm Right, I'm Wrong

Set during The Second David. Nate corrects Sophie's assumption.

**A/N: I've only seen (most) of season one and a little of season four. **

_"There's always going to be a part of you that thinks you're better than us."_

"You were wrong you know." The grifter turns at his words, looking back into the room and Nate lifts the drink to his lips, taking a small sip before his eyes flicker up towards her. "And right."

"About?" Her words are casual, but there's an underlining seriousness, the same tone that had been creeping more and more into their conversations of late.

"I _do _think of you as just criminals. But," he adds quickly when she turns away and scoffs, the sound coming out more hurt than anything, eyes a little too wide and he hopes she doesn't cry. He doesn't want her to cry. "You help people. We all do, but you- you're criminals who help people."

He turns his attention back to his glass, amber liquid swishing around as he contemplates his next words and wondering if it's the liquor making him talk. Confess. "I'm not a criminal. I don't- Becoming corrupt is easy. Going 'bad' much easier than the other way around. I'm not a criminal, and yet I break the law. Every day it seems I'm going more and more gray. Not a white knight, or black king, but… something different." He takes another sip, his mind slipping more into that nice fuzzy place where thoughts are harder to grasp and the overwhelmingness of…everything is dulled. "You four- you're going, good. You're fighting. I'm just giving in."

He turns his head slightly, pinning her with a hard stare. "So no, I don't think I'm better than you. I don't _think_ anything, because I _know_ you all are so much better than me."

Fin

**A/N: I wrote this right after watching episode 12. So it has nothing from 13 in it (since I haven't seen that one yet.) Probably pretty AU.**

**Reviews=Love**


	2. If One is a Thief

If One is a Thief

Summary: Set directly after season 2, episode 13. My thoughts on what happened after Eliot left the bar. Parker&Hardison and Parker&Eliot friendships.

She gave them exactly what was taken from them, nothing more. Nate couldn't really blame her for that, even if he would have given them the entire stash, and maybe she didn't need to tell him. Hardison might, but she'll deal with that if it happens.

Feet swinging slightly in the night air she watches her boys, because they really were her's now she'd come to realize, make their way to their vehicles. It had been a bit of an effort, getting the hacker to leave the bar so shortly after Eliot, and he'd seemed almost upset as he left, but she wanted this timed just right. People were always the variables in her plans and normally she didn't like it.

There's a chill in the wind that stings in her face as she stares down at them, watching Eliot find his truck first, giving an irritated reply back to the younger man who calls out a good-bye on his way to his too flashy car. Parker wonders if he's going through a mid-life crisis.

A smile splits her face as the hitter pauses, driver's side door partially open, staring at the present she left in the front seat. He lifts it slowly, like it'll explode if he moves too quickly and she snorts softly.

He stares at the front of the golden envelope, probably reading her scrawled _Thanks_ and her eyes began darting back and forth between hacker and hitter. Damn, perhaps she should have timed it better.

Hardison's at his own car, door open and package in hand and she watches with rapt attention as the two men open the envelopes, one just a few seconds behind the other.

She had split the remaining cash three ways, her own pay-out squirreled away, and she couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as her team mates got a glance at their share; Hardison for being in on it and Eliot for…_"I can-I mean, I could"_

**A/N: I loved this episode, first one that made me cry, but I still loved it. For those of you who haven't seen that episode in awhile, the last line was when Eliot offered to kill the fake psychic for her.**


	3. To Bend But Not Break

To Bend But Not Break

Summary: Hardison confronts Nate on being hypnotized

**A/N: This was something I'd been thinking about the entire episode and then I felt I just had to write it after seeing The Ho Ho Ho Job.**

It was the slamming of the front door that gave him away, not hard enough to be Eliot in one of his testier moods, but harder than Sophie when she's about ready to tear him a new one.

"Morning, Hardison." Nate's beginning to reconsider the logic behind giving a key to each of his team. Even if the lack of one wouldn't stop a few of the memebers.

"We gotta have a talk, bro." The hacker strides into the room, all hot air and righteous irritation. "Because I thought you knew how I felt with the head games," his hands come up to make patterns at the side of his head, palms facing inwards and Nate looks on in amusement, "and then you go and _hyp-no-tize _**me**." He touches his chest on the last word, giving special emphasis and the ex-investigator fights an outwards sigh. He knew that would come back to bite him in ass. "You crossed the line, man."

"Hardison," he cuts in before the young man can really work himself up. The hacker can really get going once he builds up steam. "I did it for the con."

"No no no. You go and invade my mind, my privacy, for what-" his hands come up again, one waving off to the side like the words he's searching for are caught in the air. "Some man that-"

"There's stuff that has to be done, needs to be. If I hadn't have done what I did, pushed you to play the way I did, do you really think that you would have been ok with the job if that entire country fell to that man because I was _nice _and avoided making you uncomfortable."

"You could have _asked _me."

"And you would have said no." He looks up, catching the younger man's eye, and attention. "And then you would have blamed yourself every time word got to us about a child dying in Africa." He's quiet, face still hard in anger and Nate softens his voice, dropping the other man's eye in order to allow his words to sink in fully. "This is what I do, Hardison. I make the decisions so that you all don't have too. I plan two steps ahead and I look at every angle. And I take the blame. I know the pressure you were under for this one. I know because I felt it too, just as I felt Eliot's and Sophie's and Parker's. Because it's mine. That's what being the leader is. You can't handle the responsibility."

He gets up, walking around the still frozen man before stopping a few inches away. "But give it time." Because it's all about the dramatic exit.

**A/N: This actually came out differently than I expected, but *shrug* oh well. Merry Christmas, ya'll!**


	4. It's Your Special Day

It's Your Special Day

Summary: My theory has to why it is that Parker can't remember if she was nine or ten when she became a cat burglar.

**A/N: I was originally going to make this exchange between Sophie and Parker, since I do a lot of Eliot and Parker, but it just kept turning into Eliot in my head.**

It's bugging him, a nagging little bit of curiosity that has him wondering.

"So," he says casually as he can master, coming up on the thief sitting cross-legged on the kitchen counter in Nate's apartment, "ten, huh?"

She glances at him quickly through her fringe, eyes falling back down to the bowl in her hands before asking, "Ten what?"

"You were ten. When you…started stealing."

Blond hair moves as she shakes her head. "I was six the first time I stole." She pauses, face turning upwards into the light as her eyes become thoughtful. "Or maybe eight. I don't know, does taking back something that was taken from you count as stealing?" She looks his way, head cocked to the side reminding him of some great bird of prey and he shakes off the feeling.

"Cat burglar." His voice is clipped, irritation already spiked followed closely by surprise and curiosity. Even after all this time she still manages take him off guard. "You said you were ten when you became a cat burglar. Or nine." He adds quickly.

She nods firmly once, like she's confirming his statement, before taking another bite of her cereal and he realizes that there wasn't actually a question there.

He opens his mouth, ready to tell her to forget it and lock all the questions swarming around his head in the box with the rest and just forget them, when she speaks, mouth still partially full. "I was one of those. Nine or ten."

"You don't know?" He almost curses himself for asking, for allowing the question to slip past his lips. He's better off not falling further down the rabbit hole.

She shrugs, lowering the bowl down to her lap as she gives him her full attention. "It was July," she says, like that explains everything. "I can never figure out my age in the summer. Start of the year, I know I'm still younger. End, older."

There's a pause and Eliot spends three breaths thinking before he moves half a step forward, one hand coming out from its spot in his front pocket as he speaks. "Do you not- Parker, when were born?"

Another shrug. "I don't know. I like to think it was in the spring." She smiles slightly, like the thought is a pleasant one and Eliot restrains himself from saying more, for apologizing, because she's not hurt and he's not the one who messed her up.

**A/N: Birthdays are huge deals in my family. So the thought that Parker doesn't know her birthday may be sadder to me than the rest of you, but either way, it's just a little theory of mine that I consider to be canon until proven otherwise.**


	5. God Save The Queen

God Save The Queen

Summary: Because he has a back up for every back up, and this is Sterling they're dealing with.

**A/N: Because I didn't like how flustered Sophie seemed when she got caught during The Queen's Gambit, it seemed very out of character for a master grifter, and I kept waiting for them to explain it, but they didn't, so here's my explanation.**

"Sophie," he calls out softly as she passes, falling back a step behind the others and waiting as she does the same. He notes Eliot's death glare towards Sterling has lowered several notches, even as their hitter still refuses to let the other man between him and the team before turning most of his attention to the woman next to him.

"In case things go wrong, if you get caught." He holds up a hand to cut her off as she opens her mouth to protest. "_if _you do. Let the guards take you. No need to talk yourself out of trouble if things go sour."

She looks vaguely insulted, like he's questioning her skills and he can't help but file that bit of information away for later.

"It'd work better…" he pauses, letting his mind think over the exact way to word this while battling his male pride demanding he not reveal too much, "I'd…feel better, knowing you were safe and out of the way if things get messy." He spares her a glance, still seeing the same insulted look as before but it's marred by something else, a softness and just a hint of a smile that loosens something in his chest a touch. "Sterling….there's more to this, and Parker and Hardison will be out of the way and can make their own exits, and Eliot's, well Eliot. And if things go south, then you'll need to be out of the main rooms to make sure that the rest of us can get where we need to. We need you there." He can feel her relax beside him and breathes an internal sigh of relief, both at her agreement and at her not mentioning his little lie, which could be the truth. Depends on how things go, they _could _need a man on the outside.

"You better come for me. _If _I get caught." She loops her arm through his and he smiles tucking one hand in his pocket as he feels another piece fall into place.

**A/N: Because Nate's a freakin' genius and Sophie's too smart to not react smoothly when getting caught.**


	6. A Rose By Any Other Name

A Rose By Any Other Name

Summary: It's a job for the cops, but their non-client seems reluctant to go and surprisingly it's Parker who takes it in hand to try and convince her.

**A/N: Apparently I'm in a dark mood. This is something I've thought about with Parker before, but never really thought I'd ever put into a story. No real time frame, I think it could fit in just about anywhere, but inspired by The Stork Job.**

* * *

><p>"I can't do that," insists their grifter, "not only is it immoral," she ignores the look Nate gives her at that little statement, "but I don't think you understand how hard it is to grift a sexual abuse victim to an <em>actual <em>sexual abuse victim."

The team, in various order, spare a quick glance to the woman on screen fiddling with the straw of her drink where Nate had left her with a quick "Be right back."

"She needs to go the police-"

"I know that," cuts in Sophie, one hip coming out as she places on hand in the curve of her waist, the other out to prop herself against the table and fits the ex-investigator with an exasperated glare. "What that man did to her-"

The grifter stops as Parker stands suddenly, turning quickly to make her way out of the main offices. The screens reveals her a few moments later walking up to their jumpy, potential client.

_"Hi," _comes the thief's voice over the comms, _"Parker." _On the screen the blonde reaches one hand out, shaking the other woman's before sitting down across from her. _"Nate told me how you want our help."_

The room is surprisingly quiet, the grifter and mastermind exchanging looks mixed with worry and confusion and Eliot's own face blank while he lets his thoughts race. The hacker seems caught, like he's unsure if he wants to watch and being unable to help it. It's not the first time the cleaver thief had forgotten that the other's can hear her, and there's an unwillingness in the team to let her know now.

_"Are you going to help me?" _their non-client, Chelsea, asks in a soft voice.

_"You need to go to the police."_

There's a sound, a mixture of a scoff and sob before Chelsea shakes her head rapidly. _"I can't," _the final word has too many vowels in it as she drags it out, _"I work with him. We dated, no one would believe me."_

_"If they don't, then you can come back to us." _Parker's voice is neutral, professional, and several of the team start to relaxing.

_"You don't und-"_

The blonde thief cuts in quickly, voice edged,_ "You don't get to say that." _A breath is taken, and Parker's stillness seems mirrored in the silent room, no one dare speaking.

Hardison is the first to take out his ear piece, setting it before him and staring at it like it's some foreign object. Sophie's hand is half way to her ear, seeming torn between not wanting to encroach on her friend's privacy and the motherly protectiveness she's developed demanding to find out what's harmed one of the ones she cares for. The remaining two don't move, faces neutral as they wait for further information, and perhaps a name if it all turns out to be the worst.

_"I'm sorry," _mutters the other woman after a moment and Parker spares her a glance before turning her gaze back to the window beside them.

_"Don't be," _she states neutrally, voice bland, _"I wasn't..he never touched me." _There's a pause before Parker continues. _"I was...too young, too blonde. Not his _type_," _her voice wavers slightly, the last word spit out like it's dirty. _"I shared a room with..." _she seems to struggle for a moment, before breathing out the last words like they fail to hold all they need to, _"a girl. My foster sister. One of them," _she seems to get distracted, lost in her own thoughts before she suddenly rips them, and her gaze, back to the girl before them. _"She would cry. I had to listen-" _she takes a breath, trying to steady her voice and failing as she continues in a watery tone. _"I was in that house almost six months and I never DID anything. I never said a word. Keeping silent doesn't make it stop, won't make you the last one he..."_

The two women fall silent, the line between Nate's eyebrows deepening as he processes this new bit of information, filing it way. Sophie is the first to move, going over to the hacker, taking out her ear piece as she sits next to the younger man and begins a talking in a low, soft voice.

The woman leaves, after a few simple words to the thief and promises to head to the police station straight away. The law is slick, no guarantee justice will be served, but they're a last resort and as Parker heads back into the back room, catching sight of her team and, more specifically, the double set of hard blue eyes holding the same single question, she knows it's not quite over yet.

**A/N: This is a little heavier than I usually make these, but it's something that started out in my head and has grown exponentially since the first little seed was dropped. I have my own personal fanon for what some of what Parker (and each of them really) has gone through and surprisingly I've had pieces both confirmed by canon and canon fitting in nicely with my own rough little timeline for her childhood. This is just a very small snippet for what is, in my head, a very detailed scene from Parker's past.**

Revies are much loved.


	7. To Be Exposed It's Unpleasant

To Be Exposed, It's Unpleasant

Summary: Sophie explains to Parker why it is she can't ask Eliot what the worst thing he's ever done was.

**A/N: Looks like I'm officially not doing these in order of episode now. Oh well, enjoy. Episode tag to season three finale.**

"Why not? He said I could."

Sophie blinked at the girl before her, because that's what she was at the moment. Parker sat with her arms crossed, chin up and something like hurt flashed through her eyes before the thief quickly covers it with stubborn anger.

"Because," she states, mind racing for a way to make Parker understand. "It's…impolite." She flinches internally. It's the wrong thing to say and the blonde looks angry and confused and there's that flash of hurt again as she grits her teeth.

"I'm going to ask him," she says it almost like a question, like she's still waiting on Sophie to give her permission, and the grifter tries to find the words, the answer to the question that Parker's not asking.

"We're a team," the thief starts, rising from her place on the couch, "and he should tell us an-"

"It's not about you," Sophie says suddenly, feeling like she's finally getting the thoughts behind this. "Parker." She resists the urge to reach out to the girl, take her hands in her own. She speaks gently, eyes soft and words careful as she catches the girl's gazes. "If I were to ask you about the worst moment of your life, ask you to tell it to me, how would you feel?"

Parker opens her mouth before closing it, eyes widening in understanding and guilt and pain and so many other emotions flickering across her face that even Sophie has a hard time deciphering them.

"Eliot doesn't want to tell us, you, not because he doesn't trust us, but…" She lets the rest go unsaid, watching Parker slowly lower herself down to the couch.

She's silent for several moments before she turns to look the grifter, long hair falling like a curtain against one side of her face. Her voice is soft when she speaks, suddenly much older and much younger than her years all at the same time. A child forced to grow up before their time. "I'd tell you, if you really wanted to know."

Sophie doesn't speak, unsure what to say, half tempted to ask but knowing she can't, shouldn't. She holds eye contact for several moments before Parker looks away. "I won't ask him. It'd be…impolite."

**A/N: I'm not sure if I was too subtle, but I hope I got it across that Parker did get what Sophie was saying.**


End file.
